The Scantron scanners supported include the 8000 series of scanners
including the models numbered 8000, 8200, 8400 and the Scanmark 2500.

The NCS scanners supported include the OPSCAN 3 - OPSCAN 6 models.

In order for the user to select the appropriate scanning module they
must click on the Setup menu in the main SSFI program, then click on
Scanner Configuration.

Then they must choose:

1) Which serial communication port is to be used (COM1 or COM2) for
Scanner Connection.

2) Which Scanner Type to choose (Scantron or one of the NCS Opscan configuration
options -the configurations are explained below in the NCS section).

3) Whether to show the Scanning Program Display or not. This should
be Off for usual scanning.On is mainly used for diagnostic information
if needed as outlined below.

Once the choices are made, click on OK, and they will remain set for
future scanning.

Scantron scanners

1. Setting up the scanners:
The Scantron scanners do not need a great deal of effort to set up.
They should come with a serial cable, usually with a 9 pin D-connector
on the computer end and a 25 pin D-connector on the scanner end. The
9 pin connector should go in the COM1 (or COM2) serial port connector
in the back of the computer and the 25 pin end should go in the CPU
connector in the back of the scanner (NOT in the AUX connector if it
has one). The power cord of course should be plugged in a power source.

2. How the scanning software communicates with the scanner:
The scanning program for the Scantron scanners is called SSFISCN8.EXE
which is called by the main SSFI program when scanning is to be performed.
It in turn uses a program file for the scanner called SSFISCAN.800 which
is a set of commands, down loaded to the scanner, that interpret the
SSFI scanning form and return the form information to the scanning program
in the computer. There it is processed and passed to the databases in
the main program.
When the operator chooses the Scan menu, then Scan Forms, and finally
Start Scanning there will be a short pause while the scanning program
is loaded and then on the scanner you should see two alternately blinking
green lights (indicating sending or receiving signals during communication)
while the SSFISCAN.800 file is down loaded to the scanner and then it
will scan the forms stacked in the input hopper. When the forms have
all been scanned then you should press the End of Batch button to let
the software know that the data is ready to be processed.
Note on the blank bubbles below the spaces to write in the names - students
do not need to bubble these in to indicate a blank space for separation
- these spaces really form a buffer so careless writers will not accidentally
make a mark in a letter bubble below.

3. Trouble shooting:
Most of the time the setup goes smoothly but sometimes there are problems.
The most common problems are outlined below:

a) If you get the message Scanning module failed then you need to make
one
more setup change. The main SSFI program was probably looking for a
".pif" file to start the scanning program but it did not exist.
These are not
usually necessary but another part of the setup has been set to look
for a
".pif" file instead of an ".exe" file. To modify
this part of the setup click
on the Scan menu, click on Scan Forms, then right click on any open
space between the various controls on the screen. This will bring up
a
small pop up menu which has its last option as Scan Program Settings.
Click on that. You should have Yes for Wait:, EXE for Execute:, off
for
Scanning Program Display, and COM 1 or COM 2 for Scanner
Connection whichever is appropriate. IF you do this then you must go
back to the Setup menu and reset the Scanner Configuration with the
appropriate Scanner Type and Off for the Scanning Program Display.

b) When the operator starts the scanning program nothing happens and
the
scanning program times out back to the main program. If no lights flash
at
all on the scanner then there is no communication between the scanner
and
the computer. Some possibilities are:

(1) The cable is not completely plugged into either the scanner or the
computer so carefully check connections.

(2) If the cable is routed through a switch box make a direct connection
to the scanner from the computer.

(3) The cable has been inserted in the wrong COM port or the wrong port
has been selected in Setup and they
don't match so change selections and/or change the cable port.

(4) There is some interference in the computer (such as shared ports
or incorrect IRQ numbers) not allowing the
initial signal to be sent to the scanner so have a knowledgeable computer
technician carefully check the
computer setup.

c) There is only one or two blinks of the green send or receive lights
on the
scanner and then everything stops. This indicates there has been initial
contact from the computer to the scanner but the SSFISCAN.800 file has
not been down loaded to the scanner.

(5) Check the display on the scanner and see if there has been a scanner
error in reading the .800 file.
If so reset the scanner by turning it off then back on and from the
Scan menu click on Scanner Error,
then click on Yes so the scanning software is reset. Then try running
the scanning program again.

(6) If it still will not down load call your Scantron customer engineer
and have them scan a form usingtheir Scan Book software with the same
SSFISCAN.800 file.

d) A final check on the scanning program can by accomplished by scanning
outside the SSFI main program.

(7) First we need to note that there is an ASCII file in the directory
called SSFIFLAG.ASC that is a 30 byte string of digits. The value of
individual digits are used by the scanning program to know what your
setup is. The second digit will be a "0" provided you chose
Scanning Program Display to be Off as recommended. For this test you
should temporarily reset this second digit to be a "1" instead
of a "0" (you can go into the Setup menu and choose Scanner
Configuration and set the Scanning Program Display to On. Be sure to
reset it back to Off when finished with this check).

(8) Then exit to a DOS prompt (you can just click on the MSDOS menu
button in the main SSFI program).

(9) Type in the command SSFISCN8 which is the name of the Scantron scanning
program and press <Enter>.

(10) You should see a screen which says "Please turn on the scanner.",
"Press <Esc> to exit.", and "Press the <Space
Bar> when ready to proceed."

(11) Press the <Space Bar> to begin the down loading and scanning
sequence. When finished type "exit" to return to the main
SSFI program.

(12) If the same errors occur then as stated above then there is some
type of hardware problem. It could be the COM port, the cable, a switching
box (if you use one) and/or the scanner. Sometimes it can be difficult
to diagnose. To help determine the source of the problem you might try
temporarily loading the software on say a borrowed portable computer
and try scanning using it and/or try another scanner if one is at all
available. You can accomplish this by making a temporary SSFI directory
(or folder) on the borrowed computer and use a floppy disk to copy over
the files:
(i) SSFISCN8.EXE
(ii) SSFIFLAG.ASC
(iii) SSFISCAN.800
Then follow the rules outlined above for scanning outside the main program.

II. NCS scanners

1. Setting up the scanners:
The NCS scanners do not need a great deal of effort to set up if they
are configured to match one of the two configurations available. See
the copies of the two configurator sheets included with this addendum.
The scanner should also have its Default Modes with scanning settings
as Yes for Image Mode, Stack for Feed Mode, SCAN for Power-Up Mode,
and YES for Display Comm Status. They should come with a serial cable,
usually with a 9 pin D-connector on the computer end and a 25 pin D-connector
on the scanner end. The 9 pin connector should go in the COM1 (or COM2)
serial port connector in the back of the computer and the 25 pin end
should go in the MAIN connector in the back of the scanner (NOT in the
AUX connector if it has one). The power cord of course should be plugged
in a power source.

2. How the scanning software communicates with the scanner:
The scanning program for the NCS scanners is called SSFISCNN.EXE which
is called by the main SSFI program when scanning is to be performed.
It directly communicates with the scanner which passes a compressed
page image that the scanning software interprets from the SSFI scanning
form, processes it and passes the data to the databases in the main
program. To let the scanning software know when the last form of the
batch has gone trough you need an End of Batch form. A copy of this
from is included with this addendum. Note that it has all the blank
bubbles under the name fields bubbled in. Students do not need to bubble
these in to indicate a blank space for separation - these spaces really
form a buffer so careless writers will not accidentally make a mark
in a letter bubble below.
Before beginning scanning be sure the scanner is turned on and the feed
tray is in the up position with the forms correctly stacked in the feed
tray and the End of Batch form at the bottom of the stack. When the
operator chooses the Scan menu, then Scan Forms, and finally Start Scanning,
there will be a short pause while the scanning program is loaded and
then you should see the forms feeding through the scanner one at a time.
When the End of Batch form goes through the scanning software knows
that it is the end of this batch of forms and it automatically stops
scanning. The data is then processed for the databases in the main SSFI
software.

3. Trouble shooting:
Most of the time the setup goes smoothly but sometimes there are problems
due to various errors. For information on configuring the scanner you
should consult the scanner's manual. Be sure that it is properly configured
before checking the list below. The most common problems are outlined
below:

a) If you get the message Scanning module failed then you need to make
one
more setup change. The main SSFI program was probably looking for a
".pif" file to start the scanning program but it did not exist.
These are not
usually necessary but another part of the setup has been set to look
for a
".pif" file instead of an ".exe" file. To modify
this part of the setup click
on the Scan menu, click on Scan Forms, then right click on any open
space between the various controls on the screen. This will bring up
a
small pop up menu which has its last option as Scan Program Settings.
Click on that. You should have Yes for Wait:, EXE for Execute:, off
for
Scanning Program Display, and COM 1 or COM 2 for Scanner
Connection whichever is appropriate. IF you do this then you must go
back to the Setup menu and reset the Scanner Configuration with the
appropriate Scanner Type and Off for the Scanning Program Display.

b) When the operator starts the scanning program nothing happens and
the
scanning program times out back to the main program. If no form starts
through the scanner then there is no communication between the scanner
and the computer. Some possibilities are:

(1) The cable is not completely plugged into either the scanner or the
computer so carefully check connections.

(2) The feed tray with the forms in it is not in the "up"
position so reset the scanner by turning it off then backon, press
the right button on the scanner to put the feed tray in the up position
and retry scanning.

(3) If the cable is routed through a switch box make a direct connection
to the scanner from the computer.

(4) The cable has been inserted in the wrong COM port or the wrong port
has been selected in Setup and theydon't match so change selections
and/or change the cable port.

(5) There is some interference in the computer (such as shared ports
or incorrect IRQ numbers) notallowing the initial signal to be sent
to the scanner so have a knowledgeable computer technician carefully
check the computer setup.

c) The first form starts through and then everything stops and usually
there is an error message sent to the scanning software. This indicates
there has been initial contact from the computer to the scanner but
something isn't right.

(6) Check the display on the scanner and see if the form was skewed
or some other mechanical reason.If so re-stack the forms and try running
the scanning program again.

(7) Verify that the actual configuration on the scanner matches the
choice made in the Scanner Configurationon the computer.
d) A final check on the scanning program can by accomplished by scanning
outside the SSFI main program.

(8) First we need to note that there is an ASCII file in the directory
called SSFIFLAG.ASC that is a 30 byte string of digits. The value of
individual digits are used by the scanning program to know what your
setup is. The second digit will be a "0" provided you chose
Scanning Program Display to be Off as recommended. For this test you
should temporarily reset this second digit to be a "1" instead
of a "0" (you can go into the Setup menu and choose Scanner
Configuration and set the Scanning Program Display to On. Be sure to
reset it back to Off when finished).

(9) Then exit to a DOS prompt (you can just click on the MSDOS menu
button in the main SSFI program).

(10) Type in the command SSFISCNN which is the name of the NCS scanning
program and press <Enter>

(11) You should see a screen which says "Please turn on the scanner.",
"Press <Esc> to exit.", and "Press the <Space
Bar> when ready to proceed."

(12) Press the <Space Bar> to begin the down loading and scanning
sequence. When finished type "exit" to return to the main
SSFI program.

(13) If the same errors occur then as stated above then there is some
type of hardware problem. It could be the COM port, the cable, a switching
box (if you use one) and/or the scanner. Sometimes it can be difficult
to diagnose. To help determine the source of the problem you might try
temporarily loading the software on say a borrowed portable computer
and try scanning using it and/or try another scanner if one is at all
available. You can accomplish this on another computer by making a temporary
SSFI directory (or folder) on the borrowed computer and use a floppy
disk to copy over the files:
(i) SSFISCNN.EXE
(ii) SSFIFLAG.ASC
Then follow the rules outlined above for scanning outside the
main program.

(14) If there are still scanning problems contact your NCS
customer engineer and have the scanner checked.